2013 Woodlands Waterway Arts Festival Jurors

With space for 200 exhibitors in the festival, we ask a panel of seven experienced art industry professionals and the
festival director to be responsible for making the final determination of artists that will participate in the show,
including an alternate list. Jurors are encouraged to participate in an open and interactive dialogue with one another
throughout the blind jury process and to recognize that while consensus is often reached quickly among panel members, a
process of compromise inevitably takes place to reach the final selection. The identities of the artists are not
disclosed to the jurors but the process, materials and dimensions for each image as well as artist information
statements will be made available to the jury. Artistic excellence and a well balanced show are the criteria for
selection of exhibitors. Thank you to these professionals for making the 2012 WWAF the best fine arts festival in Texas!

Brenda Gottlieb

Brenda Gottlieb is an arts advocate with a keen interest in travel photography where she expresses her enthusiasm for various world cultures. Her photographs are featured at Kim Son restaurant in The Woodlands and in private collections in the Houston area. Photographs from her travels to India appear in the newly published book, A Conversation on India, which she co-authored with poet Kathryn Lane.

Brenda is a board member of The Woodlands Waterway Arts Council, where she implemented BAM! Because Art Matters! -- a community and educational outreach committee charged with bringing meaningful art programs to residents of Montgomery County. She was also past director of The Woodlands Waterway Arts Festival, an annual juried fine arts festival in The Woodlands, Texas.

In 2011 Brenda was the recipient of the Interfaith "Five Who Share" service for excellence award for her contribution to the arts.

Cynthia Higgins

Cynthia A. Higgins, ASID, is an award-winning interior designer with a specialty in art consulting. She purchases art for clients and often designs homes around a client’s art collection. She brings to her practice a love of art history, an extensive knowledge of fine antiques, and ongoing education in color and art technique. Cynthia works with some of Houston’s leading art galleries and foremost artists. She is an expert at recognizing emerging talent, as well.

"Art takes you somewhere else,” Cynthia says. “If it haunts you after you have left a piece, you know it is yours."

Sonya Hillman

Sonya Hillman is a sculptor. Born at Norton Air Force Base in San Bernardino, California near Los Angeles. She has called The Woodlands home for the last four years. After receiving her Associate in Arts and Certificate of Visual Arts from Coastline College in Fountain Valley, California, she studied Renaissance Art and Sculpture in Florence, Italy. Sonya joined the Board of Directors of The Woodlands Waterway Arts Council in March of 2012, and currently is involved with BAM! Because Art Matters! the community and educational outreach arm of The Woodlands Waterway Arts Council (WWAC), a 501 (c) 3 organization, formed to provide cultural enrichment through the arts for residents of Montgomery County and the neighboring region, creating a strong and vital arts presence in the area. She has served for the last three years on the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo School Art Scholarship Committee, where she is a Judge.

Edward Morin

Edward Morin received an MFA in metalsmithing from Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York, and a BFA from the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas.

He has been working in digital and electronic formats since the late 90's, including animation, interactive multimedia, physical computing, rapid prototyping, sound and video. His work is informed by the imagery of scientific texts and educational media that he has been exposed to through public television, museums, journals and textbooks.

His work has been recently been exhibited at: Jonathan Ferrara Gallery (New Orleans, LA), The Taubman Museum of Art (Roanoke, VA), Lawndale Art Center (Houston, TX), Video Art Festival Miden (Kalamata, Greece), and The West Virginia Mountaineer Short Film Festival (University of West Virginia).

He is currently an Assistant of Professor in the Department of Art at Sam Houston State University.

Peggy Niño

Peggy Niño is a recently retired Professor of Art from Angelo State University in San Angelo, Texas where she taught a variety of painting courses, figure drawing, watercolor, design, graphics, and jewelry. Prior to moving to west Texas to teach at Angelo State University, she taught art at Lamar State University in Orange, Texas, and at Lone Star College - Montgomery in The Woodlands, Texas.

Ms. Niño has been an exhibiting artist for over 28 years, and has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions in both national and international exhibitions and competitions. Most recently, a selection of her paintings and drawings were included in the exhibitions “Recent Work” at the San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts and in the “27th Annual International Exhibition” at Meadows Gallery located at the University of Texas -Tyler. Her jewelry was recently featured in “Bronzed – Burnished – Bejeweled” at the San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts and is represented by the Asher Gallery at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft in Houston, Texas and by the Museum of Fine Arts, San Angelo, Texas. Ms. Niño’s work is held in both public and private collections.

Kristy Peet

Kristy Peet is an artist living and working in Houston, Texas. She completed her undergraduate work at Austin College in Sherman, Texas, and graduated with an MFA in photography from the Savannah College of Art and Design. Her large format photographic work deals with psychological issues and has been shown in solo and group exhibitions across the country, including a solo exhibition at the Dallas Contemporary. She is currently teaching photography at College of the Mainland in Texas City, and is a resident artist at Box 13 Artspace, an artist-run nonprofit space devoted to creation and advancement of experimental art in Houston.

Robby Wood

Robby Wood is a ceramics professor at Lone Star College-Montgomery where he has taught for ten years . He received his MFA in Ceramics from California State University at Fullerton. Robby performs many demonstrations locally and abroad, including recently on an invitational trip to China. He led a workshop in Jingdezhen, the "Porcelain Capital," where quality pottery has been produced for more than 1700 years. Robby works from his studio in Pasadena, Texas and fires in his wood kiln in Weimar. Robby is a prolific potter and donates many pieces to the college and surrounding community for scholarships and fundraisers .